Clover Ledge Farm

On Sunday, July 24, Snappy and I headed to our second 2-phase event of the year.  It was held at a farm here in Maine that I have surprisingly never been to before.  I was happy to find it was a well run show at a great venue, and I do plan to go back for a few more of their 2-phases this year! We arrived and I quickly realized the dressage was held in their indoor.  That's not a problem at all, however Miss Snap Dancer has never been inside an indoor, so I was unsure how she might react.  She was again calm and easy to tack up and we had a super nice warm up.  We headed towards the indoor for our test and she stopped dead at the door.  No way, no how was she entering that ring. LOL!  I stayed calm, of course, and just kept my leg on her and encouraged her forward.  The barn manager happened to be in the ring at the time to collect tests from the judge, and took pity on me haha.  She headed over to help lead us into the ring and just before she got to us, Snappy decided to enter

Top photo is from 2013, when Snappy encountered her first cross rail. Middle photo is from 2014, when she started to understand the idea of jumping and not just awkwardly trotting over it LOL! She had 2015 mostly off (save a few little toddles around in the late fall) as I had a baby in September. Bottom is from tonight's jump school.  :-) Love this mare!

It's no secret that I enjoy showing my horses and have often called myself a "ribbon ho" haha.  Obviously, I do not do bad things in order to win ribbons, and I am definitely the type of person who would MUCH rather have a solid "personal best" type of ride than win a ribbon, but who can deny the fact that winning a ribbon is fun!?  It is a sort of validation to me as a rider, since I do this for fun and not as a professional, so it gives me an idea of where my horse and I stand against others.  Showing is also a way to always try to improve upon our last show or our previous "best" ribbon or score. So basically, what I am trying to say is that I have a lot of ribbons.  I mean A SHIT TON. Yes, that is a real unit of measure!  LOL!!  What does one do with all these ribbons? I have several Pinterest pins on my "Equine" board of cute ideas, from wall hangings, shadow boxes, vases full of ribbons, and while they are all neat ideas, none reall

Imagine my surprise to see that after three years out of the show ring, my first show back with a new horse lands us on the cover of The Horse's Maine and New Hampshire !  LOL! Professional photographer Elena Raymond snapped this shot of us at the end of our very first dressage test and I just love it.  I've had it as my Facebook profile pic since she shared it with me in May.  I am so pleased she sent it in and they actually used it!  Very cool! Joy, love, and trust...I just love this!

Snappy and I competed at Green Acres Stables' event this past weekend.  They do a horse trials and a 2-phase, and since I have not had a chance to school Snappy over a cross country course as of yet, I figured a 2-phase was our safest bet.  We entered the Pre-Elementary division, which was just Intro B and 18" jumps.  Perfect little baby event for her first time! She was fantastic when we arrived and settled right in.  I warmed her up in a fairly busy dressage ring with lots of younger riders zooming around, oblivious to any ring etiquette or rules.  Snappy was totally unfazed, which was good.  I took her for a quick walk over to the dressage ring before my division began, which is away from the warm-up and against the side of the indoor, which used to throw Dreamy for a loop.  Again, she was totally unconcerned.  We rode fourth in a group of six riders, and I was quite happy with our test.  I do wish I had made the choice to leave the ring when the judge rang the bell thoug